Ink cartridges equipped with a memory device for storing information, such as remaining ink quantity, have recently come into practical use. Such ink cartridges send and receive information with the printer via contacts provided to the memory device and contacts provided on the printer, enabling information such as remaining ink quantity, ink expiration date, and ink cartridge compatibility with the particular printer to be transmitted between the memory device and the printer.
Where an ink cartridge equipped with a memory device is employed, for example, in a printer that allows swapping between ink cartridges of different colors, the amount of ink remaining in the ink cartridge at the point in time at which the cartridge is swapped out can be stored in its memory device, so that when the ink cartridge is subsequently reinstalled the printer can utilize correct remaining ink information.
However, these conventional ink cartridges require direct contact between memory device contacts and printer contacts when the ink cartridge is installed in the printer, so that information such as remaining ink quantity can be read out from the memory device. Thus, once the ink cartridge has been uninstalled, it is impossible to determine the remaining ink quantity or other parameters unless the ink cartridge is reinstalled in the printer. An additional problem is that it is not possible to determine whether an ink cartridge is compatible with a particular printer unless the ink cartridge package is opened and the cartridge installed in the printer.
Yet another problem is that when an ink cartridge is installed merely for the purpose of verifying the remaining ink quantity, ink is consumed unnecessarily in the cleaning operation performed when an ink cartridge is replaced.
Accordingly, there exists a need to further simplify the ink cartridge replacement process, and through simpler means to prevent the problem of erroneous insertion when replacing ink cartridges, which can occur with swapping of ink cartridges of multiple colors.